It wasn't as if there was this detailed list of objectives set out in front of Sidney Crosby.

Granted, you would have to imagine he picked up on what was implied, that he gathered when he was drafted first overall by the bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins that it became his obligation to rescue the history-rich franchise, and restore it to former glory. And he at least went along with the orchestrated rivalry with Alex Ovechkin (which the NHL leaned on to mend its own profile), perhaps making it part of his purpose to carve out a richer career.

But beyond salvaging a now-vibrant franchise valued at well over half a billion dollars and one-upping ostensibly the greatest goal-scorer of all time at almost every turn, the burden of expectation is ultimately only what the generational athlete makes it out to be.

If you're connected to the hockey world, you've probably noticed a change in Crosby at some point over the last 12-plus months.

Most discernible, he rose from the dead after a stagnant first few months of last season, re-establishing himself as the NHL's greatest player. The manifestation of that turnaround was, through the eyes of many, a legacy-cementing second Stanley Cup championship and first Conn Smythe Trophy.

Months later, he showed up seemingly at ease to the World Cup of Hockey to star in the NHL's preseason international tournament. Unlike previous best-on-best competitions, where his arrival for Canada was onset, Crosby loomed larger than anyone else from start to finish.

A pessimist would argue that his relaxed nature mirrored the significance of the put-on event. His approach this season, however, suggests that this is the new normal.

At the height of his career, Crosby, 29, has transformed himself, becoming the most dominant, most innovative goal-scorer in the NHL today. He's on pace to rival his career high. Almost as if the season began with a challenge issued to himself. With his heightened goal-scoring prowess, he's driving the league's top-ranked offense, and is racking up points at an accelerated rate that even his heir apparent can't match.

With Connor McDavid currently idle, Crosby will overtake the scoring lead with a single point versus the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.

With two, he'll have 1,000 for his career.

Crosby will be the 86th player ever to reach the milestone, and, in all likelihood, will become the 12th-fastest to do it (13th if you count Wayne Gretzky's second 1,000). By comparison in this era, Ovechkin reached the 1,000-point plateau earlier this season, but will have required in excess of 100 additional games to hit the millennial threshold.

A thousand points will stand as another monumental feat for the superstar who seems less and less concerned with the standard that others placed on him, because he's completed every checkpoint en route to the Hall of Fame already.

His legend is so that he's now operating with house money. Free rolls with so many potentially great seasons ahead.

He's fulfilled all the demands imposed on him. It's why we should expect so much more.

Only now, having accomplished virtually everything he can in the sport, Crosby can focus on actualizing the prophecy dictated by self.

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The Winnipeg Jets will wait longer for the return of Tyler Myers.

The towering defender underwent surgery Monday to repair a lower-body injury, which will reportedly cost him another six-to-eight weeks of action, according to TSN's Sara Orlesky.

At the earliest, this puts Myers on track to return with only a few weeks left in the regular season. He's already been absent from the Jets' lineup for nearly three months after suffering the injury in a loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 11.

He's missed 39 games.

Orlesky notes that Monday's procedure was unrelated to the one Myers had done last year.

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In the mind of their direct competition, the Boston Bruins aren't likely to upgrade from dismissed head coach Claude Julien.

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock - who hasn't shied away from offering his opinion on circumstances outside his own this season - vouched for Julien and perhaps questioned his rival's decision-making shortly after news of the firing broke.

"Good man. Even better coach. Someone out there is happy today," Babcock told the media with a smile Tuesday morning. "I mean, you ain't getting better. When you make these decisions, you better have a guy in line that's better than that guy. There's not too many, I can tell you that.

"And a good man. But, enjoy some time with your bride and your kids, get freshened up, call the U-Haul business, get ready to go. Sometimes, to be honest with you, it's time to move on.

"(Julien's) a hell of a coach."

Babcock has gained an appreciation for Julien's ability and learned a thing or two from the former longest-tenured coach in the NHL at recent international tournaments. Julien worked on Babcock's staff during Canada's triumphs at the Sochi Olympics and 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

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theScore's new series, "The Noise," is published every Monday. It kicks off each week with a quick look at three teams or players making headlines, good or bad.

Some bite

Deployed as they were designed, finally, after rolling out a diminished lineup for 51 games to start the year, the Panthers looked like the playoff threat they were pegged as in preseason Friday night.

Simultaneously returning from 15-game and 16-week absences, respectively, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau picked up right where they left off on the top line with Jaromir Jagr, driving play in a 2-1 win over the Ducks. The victory, the Panthers' third in succession, lifted them to within two points of the third postseason slot in the Atlantic Division.

Barkov, Huberdeau, and Jagr produced 36 goals together at even strength last season, second only to the Chicago Blackhawks' scoring line of Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, and Artem Anisimov. In itself, losing a line that's outscored top defensive units at better than two-to-one has been a major detriment to the Panthers. But the absences had a much more profound effect.

Vincent Trocheck, Reilly Smith, and Jussi Jokinen feasted on mismatches created by the top unit last season, generating even greater margins at even strength than the No. 1 line. This season - as the focus of the opposition - the second-line trio has mustered just three goals in more than 200 minutes at five-on-five.

Batten down the hatches

It won't quite be the media throng awaiting him next week when he makes his only visit to Toronto this season, but John Tavares and the Islanders will experience an appetizer with the Maple Leafs and their reporters in New York on Monday.

Speculation surrounding Tavares' future has been an omnipresent narrative in Toronto and across league circles for months now, but still hasn't matched the hoopla that surrounded Steven Stamkos before he eventually decided to re-up in Tampa.

Part of that is because Tavares - still not a free agent until 2018 - has shot down the idea at every opportunity. But cooler heads are prevailing, for the most part, because Toronto's dynamic offense has a) eliminated the need and b) served up enough of a distraction.

Regardless, Tavares will have to repeat himself Monday, before doing so again for a larger audience in just over a week.

Oilers still starving for secondary scoring

The Oilers had 150 goals in 51 games at the All-Star break, boasting an overall offense in the runner-up position among Western Conference teams. They've scored just three in four games since, and would be winless (and five points back in the Pacific Division) if Montreal hadn't been equally impotent in the Super Bowl Sunday shootout snoozer.

As has been a problem for much of the year, Edmonton's depth has been unable to pick up Connor McDavid when he falls into brief inactive spells. Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Milan Lucic - the team's three highest-paid players who take up $18 million of cap space - have counted eight goals over the past 20 games, with Lucic serving up a single.

With the Oilers now hanging up the blades for five days for their mandatory bye, the coaching staff ought to be hard at work devising a strategy to help take the pressure off McDavid for the stretch run.

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As preposterous as it may sound, Boston Bruins dynamo David Pastrnak may be supplying the Toronto Maple Leafs a competitive advantage.

After William Nylander recorded his first career hat trick in Saturday's 6-5 win in Boston, Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock suggested his offensive wiz is a better player when in the presence of his childhood friend.

"We got to bring Pastrnak on the road with us all the time, take him to every rink," Babcock said, according to TSN's Mark Masters. "(Nylander) always wants to be better than (Pastrnak)."

For his part, Pastrnak was a force himself. He scored twice, and matched Nylander's three points with a primary assist on a power-play goal scored by Torey Krug.

Nylander commented on how special it is to dual with his close friend on such a massive stage, via Masters:

"It's something you never thought would happen when you're playing as little kids back home. Pretty cool."

Let's face it, if this "rivalry" continues to yield 6-5 shootouts, we're all benefiting.

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Morgan Rielly has appeared in two games since suffering an unidentified lower-body injury a few weeks back, but it's obvious that the Toronto Maple Leafs' No. 1 defenseman remains affected by the ailment.

Now we understand why.

Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock revealed after the club's thrilling 6-5 win over Boston on Saturday that Rielly is playing through a high ankle sprain, according to The Athletic's David Alter.

It's an injury that typically requires a more lengthy recovery process.

Babcock added that Rielly tweaked the injury in the win, and that it will continue to happen until the injury can fully heal.

Rielly was still able to log in excess of 22 minutes Saturday, almost four minutes more than in his return Thursday versus the St. Louis Blues. Still, Rielly's injury, and how its impacted his performance, has magnified Toronto's shortage of plus defenders.

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One limitation when evaluating players with advanced data is that performance doesn't occur in a vacuum. Players are all - to at least a certain extent - products of their system, and environment and role invariably impact individual metrics.

Because of this, we often see underlying numbers look more, or less favorably, when players begin to work out of a new system. A coaching change, or shift in scenery can easily overhaul perception.

P.K. Subban and Shea Weber have been performing under new instruction for almost four months following last summer's stunning swap of high-priced, top-pairing defenders.

What, if anything, have we learned since?

Before the deal

* Goal and point rates include all conditions

Setting aside the subjectivity to the Subban-Weber debate, this is what the raw numbers revealed about the two All-Star defenders in the two seasons leading up to the deal:

• Weber was the more dangerous goal scorer, but Subban's complete offensive impact was greater.
• Both were high-event players landing on the positive side of possession, but Subban's influence was more significant, and more so relative to his teammates.

Regardless of age, contract, intangibles, or disposition, many felt the Predators won the deal for the simple fact that Subban's ability to drive play was stronger than Weber's.

Since the deal

As is the objective in every trade, both parties received precisely what they paid for. The data's reflected this so far, but perhaps with one exception.

Weber's offensive impact was immediate in Montreal, as he scored seven goals and racked up 10 points in his first 20 games with the man advantage alone. By contrast, Subban has just seven power-play points, and 18 overall, (in 17 fewer games).

Regardless, Weber's outshone his counterpart so far inside the offensive zone with similar numbers from his time in Nashville.

Yet, when evaluating in terms of strict 5-on-5 performance without goal-scoring randomness, Subban has had that similarly positive overall impact in relation to his teammates, while Weber continues to lag behind a little bit.

The fascination centered around the Subban-Weber debate will endure. And the conversation is made only more compelling in that the two defenders, who have profoundly different styles, haven't necessarily altered the teams' general position in the overall landscape.

Not like, say, the absence of Carey Price would, anyway.

(All advanced data courtesy: Corsica Hockey)

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It's suddenly not so certain for the Edmonton Oilers, a club that returned from the All-Star break as a veritable lock for the postseason in the eyes of Las Vegas.

The Oilers fell flat for third straight outing since the showcase in Los Angeles, losing 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. They mustered three goals across these three defeats, and were predictably unable to pick up cooling captain Connor McDavid.

It's not yet time to panic; they're still seven points up on the Calgary Flames in third in the Pacific Division.

They should, however, heed to the ominous road ahead.

Edmonton will meet the Canadiens on Sunday in a Super Bowl matinee on the east coast. When the club returns, it will host the Blackhawks, Coyotes, and Flyers before embarking on a six-game road trip to close out the month with visits to Chicago, Tampa Bay, Florida, Washington, Nashville, and St. Louis.

The Oilers made a statement on the other side of the All-Star break, beating the Ducks and Sharks in consecutive nights in California by a combined 8-1 score.

A similar statement, made sooner than later, may be needed to avoid tumbling too far, and missing the postseason for an 11th straight season.

We imagine Las Vegas would appreciate it swift.

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Seasons can turn on a dime. Or on four-game road trips through the midwest.

The Winnipeg Jets fashioned a three-game win streak for the first time this season Thursday, holding on to defeat the Dallas Stars 4-3. And while the Colorado Avalanche remain a living, breathing, oft-competing NHL entity, a win over the floundering last-place club Saturday will complete a critical four-game sweep inside the division for the Jets, and extend their win streak to nine games over Central foe.

They now sit just one point behind the Calgary Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Since the recall of Ondrej Pavelec, who made 39 saves Thursday, the Jets have racked up five wins opposed to just two losses. His steadying presence has been important, but what's driving the Jets' surge is an attack that can compare with any in the NHL.

Led by Mark Scheifele, who reached the 25-goal plateau Thursday, the Jets have scored 64 times since the holiday freeze, which is second only to the 80 scored by the Washington Capitals.

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Montreal Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw didn't see a single shift after taking an unnecessary interference minor Thursday in a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

While pivoting on the blue line to remain onside with Montreal in possession, Shaw reached out and needlessly twisted Nick Cousins to the ice.

Claude Giroux tied the game on the corresponding power play, and the Flyers tacked on two more unanswered goals.

Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien had this explanation for keeping Shaw planted to the bench for the remainder of the game.

"We can't accept to take that type of penalty as a team," he said, according to TSN's Dan Robertson. "Pretty simple."

Shaw declined to speak with the media after the game.

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